LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY ANALYSIS AS A TOOL FOR EXPLOITING THE SICILIAN PRICKLY PEAR (OPUNTIA FICUS INDICA (L.) MILL.) PRODUCTION CHAIN

ABSTRACT This study presents the preliminary results obtained from a Life Cycle Inventory analysis applied to the Sicilian prickly pear (Opuntia ficus indica (L.) Mill) production sector, with a specific focus on the “Ficodindia dell’Etna” PDO. The Opuntia ficus indica, a plant of Mexican origins, has found in the Sicilian territory its natural collocation producing high quality fruits with relevant functional and nutritional characteristics and with great economic importance. At the aim of the study, 1k of fruit was chosen as functional unit with the system boundaries including the phases of production, harvesting, delivery to the warehouse. It is important to highlight that currently no LCA studies regarding this kind of fruit are recorded in the international/Italian context: this represents the added value and the relevance of the presented study. Furthermore, it can represent a first building block for the development of the whole LCA study for future possible applications of environmental labels, such as the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).